Enter the Pizza Oven

 Howdy-  I figured out a few things about building a restaurant.  Maybe about building anything really.  There is a time that it seems like nothing is going on and nothing changes.  No offence to the electricians and the plumbers and the framers, I know that they are maybe among the most important folks in the process.  But it is not until the finishing work starts that you can really start to see how things come together.  How the outline the framers put out there turns into a copper covered bar with a blond wood top that is really sharp.

So as you can see see things on the Mile are chugging along.  Chuck, our foreman, says he thinks we are more or less on schedule.  This has been a tough process for him and he seems unflappable.  The pizza oven arrived at 5:00AM on SUNDAY.  I told myself that I was going to be there to document the process for you the reader.  Well...it did not work out that way.

See we thought things were going to be slow Saturday at CBC.  It was set to be a fantastic night in Columbus.  Cool, clear, the sun was out late.  As it turns out instead of people staying home, or going to friends for a cook out, they came to the Brewery and ordered off of  Noe's saute station.

"Noe, Call. 3 Burgers, 2 Fish San, Burrito, 5 Chick sando Special Set."  Noe said he hears me calling tickets out in his dreams.  Sometimes it is like that, it seems like everyone is ordering off your station.  Chef Brian sent Jose home because he had a pretty bad burn on his arm. So he was on salads and the left me on expo.  Jennifer cut a host and that put her on the door.  Thus instead of heading out early after  125people.  It was more like limping out after 245. Restaurants are like that.  Right when you think you have it figured out he jumps around and bites you in the ass.

The oven is about 3000 pounds.  If you could see the area around the restaurant you would have to wonder how they ever got it inside.  To say that things are muddy out there is the definition understatement.  So while I was sleeping they managed to get the oven place.

 It is a touch naked right now but it will be covered in copper shingles.  See the above photo from the bar.  I just had a vision of cleaning the out side of this thing.  Brings the term Delegate to mind.

There are some cool touches to the new oven.  it is also pretty big.  I am guessing 10 - 12 pizzas at a time.  My big question is going to be about HEAT.  I want that deck at 600 degrees.

 So this little peice of pipe with a bit of really cool flare on the top side was sorta hanging out in the middle of the oven while some folks scratched their heads trying to figure out how the hell to get it to fit into the oven.  The three of us were all on the large side and a touch old as well.  So enter the fit youth.

"Hey can you climb in there and see if you can get that pipe to fit?"

 This is, I am guessing will be the last time anyone will be climbing into the oven.

Ahh Success.

To all you cooks out there.  Make sure to clean the hoods tonight.

Floors and Beams and the Kitchen is Black

Well I have not posted in awhile.  Things were going on but the visuals of pulling wire and putting in plumbing are not so sexy.  But right now there are some significant changes going on so I thought I would drop in and get some photos and share with you. 

Additionally we have been plugging away at the menu, reworking the smallwares order and banging out shifts at the Brewery.  So how do we write a menu?  What makes it what doesn't?  Well the Chefs (myself Brian Cook and Matt White) all make a few dishes.  Should be ready at 2:30.  Then we sit down with Doug Griggs (owner of CBC and Milestone) and Jennifer White (GM at CBC) and who ever else is around, and we eat.  We talk about the dishes, think about how hard or easy they are to pick up (that is kitchen for "you ordered it now I gotta make it"), we think about cost, and how it fits into the overall model of the concept.  We have tried lots of pizzas, sandwiches, salads and entrees. 

The floors are starting to go into the dinning room and the kitchen.

And as you can see the kitchen is black.  Why is the kitchen black?  Well I do not know.  But all of the walls are black.  It is a small space and I feel like the black walls are not helping make it feel bigger.  I am thinking maybe Brent Lacount was Goth in an earlier life and so he is just into black.

We have also recently gotten these cool beams that stretch out from the pizza oven.  They seem well secured so don't worry about walking under them.  Nice to add a few straight lines into all those curves.  Less than two months until opening, still got work to do.

Construction continues

 So I stopped by Milestone 229 today to check in on the progress of construction.  The fountain was bubbling away and the folks from MSI were cleaning up the site.  There were some big wigs scheduled to come down to watch them put the fountain through it's paces.  I was hungry and want to check out Foddie Carts new offerings in the Short North. so I did not stick around to see the fountain go off.  Foodie Carts' new offerings were great.  Like little balls of pancakes with cabbage, octopus or sausage.  I have to say I liked the cabbage the best.  I would also advise letting them cool down a bit before eating they are hot like crazy on the inside.  

Construction seems to be right on pace.  The plumbers and electricians were in.  The lines are run for hand sinks and the steam kettle.  You can see where the Dishtank will drain to.  Out front the bar is taking shape.

 
The front of the bar will be covered in copper shingles and it will be topped with wood.  You can see how the line follows the curves in the building.  Most of the design elements echo back to the shape of the building.

 We worked on Smallwares this week as well setting up final decisions on plates (square), wine glasses (big) and flatware (heavy but conservative).  We are looking at some cool fondue pots, cast iron skillets and a cast Iron pot to make Mac'N'Cheese in.  I have been eating lots of Mac'N'Cheese over the past few weeks at some notable new openings in Columbus.  Suffice to say that when we open I think you find ours is the creamiest , the cheesiest and the tastiest.  We will be getting flutes for sparkling wine and carafes for Sangria. 

 The shot above is of the prep station.  You can never have to many plugs in your prep area.  We have thought a lot about the folks who will be working in the space.  While we have had to fight the natural layout of the building we have been conscious to try to create good work spaces.  The folks working prep have their own table a steam kettle and ovens.  They are the heart of the operation.  Roasting and pulling pork.  Roasting fresh Gerber Chickens , rolling out gnocchi and keeping the line stocked with everthing it needs.  These folks are the engine that keeps the restaurant moving.  You don't often see them.  They are getting no James Beard awards but without them the whole thing grinds to a stop.  At CBC the woman who keeps it all together in the back kitchen is named Rebekah and she is a force to be reckoned with.   

Well the pizza oven has gotten as far as it is going to get for a bit.  We are in a holding pattern until the oven is delivered.  I am not at all sure how they are going to get that big old oven into that tiny little door way.  We will see and I will let you know.

New photos of Milestone

Well Greg Callaghan and the folks from Shaffer have been at it for a bit more than a week.  They have a very tight schedule to keep in order to deliver on time.  You can begin to see to outlines of the bar and the kitchen.  Framing has been done on our restaurant sized office.  Closet might be a touch more fair, but in a restaurant you don't make money sitting in an office.

Once you get a desk, copier, two computers and all the files in there I am not sure Doug or I are going to fit and for sure not the both of us.  We will have to have meetings on the patio.

One of the challenges for the project is that the floor was a foot thick concrete in the kitchen.  The drains for all the sinks, dish machine, steam kettle and additional conduit had to be cut into the floor.

 

 This will give you an idea on how thick the floor is. I am going to see if I can use it as a door stop. 

  There was some concern that they might hit some conduit when they cut this.  It looks like the cuts came out clean.  I wonder if that means I can get more smallwares.  A cryovac and immersion circulator  would fit nicely.

Well once the door that is cut into that wall this is not going to be a place to sit and hang out.  I am also promising that the kitchen floor will never be that dirty again.

So buried in all that construction is the outline of the bar, pizza oven and salad station.  The metal studs with be sheet rocked and painted, the bar is off to the right and the pizza oven is a little circle on the left.  It is going to covered in Copper "Shingles".  

There is a slightly better view of the future pizza oven, which we ordered today.

It is a Dough Pro 5 Ft gas oven.  I know what you are thinking "No wood?" , well let me tell you the wood does not really impart much flavor to the pizza.  Think about it all the smoke goes right up the chimney.   And burning all that wood is not so good for folks with Asthma.

Well there is the door to the kitchen.  It is hard to see now but there will be meat and cheese and cream and vegetables flowing right through that door.  We will have lots of young cooks learning their trade and I can imagine a frustrated Chef bounding right outside to cool off after running the line with Red, White and Boom happening on the patio.  The outlines are starting to take shape.  Some of the players are on the stage.  Pretty soon it will be showtime. 

Things start moving on the Mile

So the great folks from the Columbus Brewing Company are opening a new restaurant or the banks of the Scioto River.  It is in what was the Bicentennial Park and now is the Scioto Mile.  We picked up the "Mile", and named the restaurant Milestone 229. I am Christian and I am going to be the Chef.  I am also going to keep track of things as we get moving on construction, setting up the menu and wine, figure out if we will be able to get a pizza oven to fit, and all the other trial and tribulations of opening a restaurant.

Here are some photos where we are now.

 Standing at COSI looking across the Scioto.  The Restaurant is the oval building in the center.  To the left is a new bridge being built.  It looks like the bridge will run right into the restaurant but it turns off to the left right at the end.  The Scioto is also really high in this photo. It has been raining like crazy the past month.

I love the windows.  Floor to ceiling 30 ft high going all the way around.One of these windows will have to come out in order to get the pizza oven in there.  It is like 70 inches in diameter and weighs 5000lbs.

This shows both the beautiful wood ceiling and the patio as well. 

The restaurant looks pretty small.  The designers say it is always that way and that when we get everything in there we will be surprised at how much space there really is.  You can also see a chunk of the patio here. 

I was standing in the fountain here.  You can see the patio on the left the restaurant on the right.  This gives you a great perspective how dynamic and striking the building is.